Kiichi Miyazawa

Kiichi Miyazawa (8 October 1919-28 June 2007) was Prime Minister of Japan from 5 November 1991 to 9 August 1993, succeeding Toshiki Kaifu and preceding Morihiro Hosokawa. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

Biography
Kiichi Miyazawa was born in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan in 1919 to a wealthy family, and he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University with a law degree. He avoided military service during World War II by joining the Finance Ministry, and he was elected to the National Diet in 1953 as a Liberal Democratic Party of Japan member. He served as Trade Minister from 1970 to 1971, Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1976, Director General of the Economic Planning Agency from 1977 to 1978, and Chief Cabinet Secretary from 1984 to 1986. From 1986 to 1988, he served as Finance Minister under Noboru Takeshita's government, but a corruption scandal forced his resignation.

In 1991, Miyazawa's faction made him Prime Minister of Japan, and he gained brief fame when President of the United States George H.W. Bush vomited on his lap. His government passed a law allowing for Japanese forces to be sent overseas for peacekeeping operations, and he also negotiated a trade agreement with the USA and introduced financial reforms to address the growing economic malaise in Japan during the 1990s. In 1993, he lost a vote of no confidence caused by a corruption scandal involving faction member Fumio Abe and was forced to resign, and Morihiro Hosokawa succeeded him.